No. 9 Milwaukee-area team Germantown appeared to have No. 5 Homestead right where it wanted coming out of halftime with a 15-9 lead and the ball. A personal foul after a run for no gain and an 8-yard loss later, however, had the leading Warhawks facing fourth-and-33 from their own 25.
As Germantown lined up in a textbook punting situation, punter Grady Cheever noticed an uncovered gunner lined up to his right. Homestead coach Drake Zortman said after the game it was his mistake that led to just 10 players taking the field on that down. An earlier injury had knocked out Homestead’s primary returner, and Zortman had moved a perimeter defender back to return without passing the word to his assistant coach.
“We only had 10, and we didn’t have anybody to cover their gunner/wideout who’s eligible,” Zortman said.
As Zortman yelled across the field to get his remaining players on the field to cover the gap, Cheever quickly fielded the snap and fired in the direction of the open gunner. Homestead’s Chase Reti adjusted just in time to move across the formation and help induce an incomplete pass, turning the ball over to his offense at the Germantown 25.
A couple plays later, Lee Zortman rushed in his first of two second-half scores from 13 yards out to give Homestead a 16-15 lead. The latter score made it 24-15 after a two-point try was successful, and Germantown would not climb back within a score until the final 1:45 of the game. Cheever converted a 23-yard field goal to pull within 24-18, but the Warhawks were unable to recover the ensuing onside kick as Homestead pulled out the road win at Datka Stadium.
“Chase Reti found a way to make a play and run over there and get in the mix on my mistake,” Drake Zortman said. “Sometimes in the moment I can yell really loud to have a kid help me fix my mistake, and Chase Reti did that.”
The recovery proved to be a momentum-swinging miscue for Germantown, whose head coach Jake Davis said the punt unit was following a practiced “automatic” audible for when an opposing team presents an opening like Homestead had.
“Mistakes, it’s early in the season, those things happen, and versus a team like Homestead, you’ve got to minimize those,” Davis said. “When that happens and the momentum can swing that way, it’s hard to get out of that, and they do a good job of capitalizing on that.”
Germantown had been moving the ball well behind new starting quarterback Tage Siegert and a running game featuring Gavin Knight and Rave Sickler, but Homestead made adjustments to put the game more in the quarterback’s hands in the second half.
“That back [Knight] had a really, really great first half. Their tailback diced us up man in the first half. Second half we needed to emphasize stopping the run,” Drake Zortman said, adding that his assistants made a switch to the defensive alignment to put more players in the box.
Davis said he saw poise from his new starter in spots, and liked to see both Siegert and his occasional reliever Crosby Luedtke respond when challenged by the defense.
“We don’t want to just ease into the season. We want to go head first, and especially with the schedule we have, I think it’s important for us to do that, and Homestead’s definitely a team that will give us that,” Davis said.
The feeling of having escaped a heavyweight bout was evident to coach Zortman as well.
“Germantown is going to have a really, really good season. We’re very thankful to come out of here with a victory. It’s a well-coached, really physical team,” Zortman said.
High school football returned around the state this weekend with Week 1 games kicking off Aug. 20-21 statewide. Here were other Milwaukee-area highlights from Week 1.
Racine Case knocks off Franklin in Week 1 shocker
Racine Case had a parting gift for Franklin as the latter leaves the Southeast Conference this year for the Classic 8. The Eagles handed their longtime Southeast foe a Week 1 loss by a 20-10 final. A 55-yard Morell Jackson run gave Case the 7-0 lead in the first quarter, and a 62-yard connection from Tolan Johnson to Jayson Jefferson helped the Eagles retake a 14-7 advantage later in the first. Colin Gardner converted on a 33-yard field goal for Case to send it into the half up 17-7. The two teams traded a field goal each way over the remaining half as the Eagles held on for a historic win.
It is the first win for Case over Franklin in at least a quarter century, according to available records. The two schools had met 23 times since 2002 prior to Aug. 21, with Franklin taking away the win each time. In their first meeting in that span as members of separate conferences, Case made a statement that this is a new era for the program.
Area preseason top 10 teams go 7-3
Several Journal Sentinel area top 10 teams began the year defending their standing with strong showings in Week 1, while others who laid Week 1 duds could be on the outside looking in for our first rankings of the regular season next week.
No. 1 Arrowhead throttled Marquette, 35-7, in the home opener for the reigning D1 champions. No. 2 Muskego defeated Waunakee, 24-7, at home in a matchup that was one win for each team away from being the WIAA D1 state title matchup last year. No. 3 Sussex Hamilton defeated Kimberly on the road, 27-12, as the Chargers picked up a win over a strong nonconference opponent Aug. 20. No. 10 Pewaukee also kicked off its season Aug. 20 with a 42-7 win over Greendale. No. 6 Catholic Memorial shut out Milwaukee Bradley Tech/Arts, 38-0, and No. 7 Whitefish Bay topped Whitnall in its home opener, 39-9.
The top 10 was not immune to Week 1 setbacks, however. Joining Germantown and Franklin among area top 10 losing teams was reigning D3 state champion and preseason No. 4 Grafton, which fell 14-10 at Mount Horeb/Barneveld.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Homestead’s escape with win from Germantown leads Week 1 takeaways
Reporting by Zac Bellman, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Zac Bellman, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
